Robert Townsend Opens up on the State of Black Film

Robert Townsend is an accomplished producer, actor and director. Many know him for his now classic comedy Hollywood Shuffle, which offered commentary on the experience of being black in the entertainment industry. Well, Tuesday, Townsend joined Roland Martin and NewsOne Now to discuss how technology has changed the game for black filmmakers and his work teaching movie making to urban youth.

“The Internet and social media are game changers,” Townsend said. “Now, you could personally reach a target audience and send your trailer out, you can market it, you can put up a website and you can sell it. So, it’s like your own distribution pipeline.”

Townsend also weighed in on his place in the pantheon of great black filmmakers and the new “golden age” of black film.

“There were seeds planted and all of a sudden there’s Antoine Fuqua and F. Gary Gray. They were like, ‘If you guys can do it, we can do it’. So, I think there’s a resurgence, which is good because now there’s real discussion going on around images of people of color and we’re seeing different types of images.”